Medicare Shared Savings Program

BackgroundThe Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) is the primary Medicare ACO program. The MSSP was derived from the Physician Group Demonstration Project, which started during the George W. Bush administration, and the MSSP was permanently authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The MSSP began in 2012 with two participation options, Track 1 and 2. MSSP Track 3 was added in 2016 and the newest addition is Track 1+, which is detailed on this webpage. Track 1 has no downside risk and ACOs can only participate in Track 1 for a limited number of years. Tracks 1+, 2 and 3 all require certain levels of downside risk but have other benefits such as greater amounts of shared savings rewards and waivers from certain Medicare rules.

CMS releases interim final rule establishing extreme and uncontrollable circumstances policies for the Shared Savings Program that will apply to ACOs subject to extreme and uncontrollable events such as Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, and the California wildfires, effective for performance year 2017